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Whitmarsh: Button has not joined for money

Wednesday 18th November 2009

Martin Whitmarsh has denied that Jenson Button has joined McLaren for money - and obliquely ruled out a repeat of the civil war that almost tore the team apart when Fernando Alonso partnered Lewis Hamilton.

Having effectively opted to build the team around Hamilton for the past two seasons, McLaren have ditched Heikki Kovalainen for what Whitmarsh believes will be will be "not only have the fastest pairing on the 2010 grid, but also the two most complete, professional and dedicated drivers in Formula 1."

However, the appointment of Button at the expense of the placid and ultimate team-player Kovalainen carries the risk of a repeat of the in-fighting that derailed McLaren in 2007. Whitmarsh, though, foresees no reason for alarm and believes the pairing will prove beneficial for all.

"I'm confident that we'll be able to successfully balance and harness Jenson's and Lewis's complementary skill-sets. Our engineers are already looking forward to working with Jenson, and I'm convinced that such a strong and dynamic driver line-up will make us an even more complete and competitive operation. Now we have to provide Jenson and Lewis with race-winning machinery."

The McLaren team boss also insisted that money had not been a motivating factor in Button's decision to join the team.

"I want to make clear that Jenson's decision to join us was in no way motivated by money. We'll be paying him no more than he could be getting elsewhere, and that fact is a reflection of not only Jenson's belief in Vodafone McLaren Mercedes but also his desire and ambition to build on the phenomenal results he achieved during the 2009 season," he said.

"We're ambitious, we're motivated and we're hungrier than ever. We make no secret of our ambition for next year: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes wants to win both World Championships - and, with Jenson and Lewis, we believe we're better equipped than any other team in the pitlane to do exactly that."

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